According to the California Nurses Association as many as nine thousand Registered Nurses were planning to conduct a one-day walkout to protest what they claim is a lack of progress toward a new contract agreement with U-C administrators.

Ruling that such a strike would be illegal because of a procedural matter, a Sacramento judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the walkout. 

Nurses, like Suzanne DePalma at U-C Davis Medical Center, reacted swiftly.

"We're enraged, we're very angry. We're looking at this as a postponement of a strike. The strike will happen as soon as we get word from the judge that it's legal."

Sharon Melberg of U-C Davis says the ruling enables the Medical Center to re-open units that were closed in anticipation of the strike.

"It will allow us to gradually increase the services we can offer through our emergency department and to begin accepting patients in transfer."

A court hearing on the case is scheduled for August eleventh.